The moon was high in the sky before we rose and made our way back to camp. I yawned as I dressed and stretched, somewhat resentful of the armor I wore when I wasn't running as a wolf, or doing other things. "I need to sleep in a real bed tonight," I groused.

Serana arched an eyebrow, silver eyes gleaming with amusement. Beyond the flush of life in her cheeks and the pulse of blood that was such a comfort for me to hear, she had changed very little. Where I had cut my hair short out of sheer frustration with brambles and tree sap, hers remained long, though now it was bound in a braid rather than the intricate style she had before. She still wore the vampiric armor, which sometimes drew stares from people who knew of the breed. Most importantly, she still managed to look imperiously amused and not infuriate me immediately.

"You're a werewolf and you're complaining that you don't have a real bed," she said slowly, as if trying to understand.

I scowled half-heartedly. "I've been spoiled by the new-blood I'm bound to." After a moment, I said, "I may also always have been somewhat spoiled when it came to the luxuries humans come up with."

"I take it your pack didn't have real beds?" Her voice was deceptively casual as she looked away to begin packing things away in the bags we carried.

I sighed heavily. "Serana, I'm fine. It was seventeen years ago. You don't have to beat around the bush. The ground around the bush actually looks like a saber cat got angry at it and decided to attack." More cheerfully, I said, "We really didn't. Some slept in wolf form, others on furs. The sick and the elderly were the only ones who had a real bed, and I was neither of those. But, since a certain vampire walked into my life, I have gone from sleeping in the corner to sleeping on a real bed, and I'm happy to keep it like that."

"I can't argue with that logic." She hid a smile, but I could hear the mirth in her voice. "We're only ten miles from a town with an inn; I think we passed it on the way here. We'll make it by dawn."

"That sounds good to me." And we set off, shouldering bags that might have knocked a typical Nord off his feet, and started off at a brisk trot.

Before the events of the Prophecy of the Sun, I slept at night and ran during the day. There were typically more people to frighten that way, because they travelled by day too. After all that, though, day turned into a time to sleep instead of to torment villagers. At first it was because Serana couldn't travel in the day as a vampire, but even as a werewolf she preferred to avoid it, and I was happy to oblige. It was near dawn when we walked into the inn, and most everyone was fast asleep, except the Nord behind the bar. We paid for our room and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. The dreams Hircine sent to his children- or allowed Vaermina to infect us with- were always so much calmer with her around, and I slept like a rock.

That is until I heard the screaming.

At first I thought I was ten years old again, hiding under a shelf and hoping the blood-sucking creatures wouldn't see me. But the screams were more terrified than challenging. Human. Something was happening, and when I reached out and met empty blankets, I knew Serana wasn't there. And I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I knew what had happened.

I threw on a hood and dashed out into the main room of the inn. I only looked for a moment, seeing bloodstains and unidentified body parts- and more importantly, gouges in the wood that looked just like the claws of a massive beast. Suspicion confirmed, I ran back into the room to dig a red-cloth-covered blade out of my bag, and then out into the night.

The light in the inn and the absence of light outside was blinding to me, and told me how long I had slept. Screams and wails of pain rent the air along with the roaring of a rampant werewolf. There she was, surrounded by guards and men armed with swords and bows. She was winning for now, but it would only be a matter of time before the sheer numbers overwhelmed her.

The knife burned cold underneath the cloth, and while I wished to fling it away, I gripped it tighter. "There's more in the trees!" I shouted, running into the fray.

The ploy did what I was aiming for. The mob ran for the forest at the edge of the town. If I had been in wolf form, I would have howled and summoned any nearby to protect their kin, but there was no time. Instead, I ran at Serana's back, and Hircine help me, I slashed the blade across the span of her shoulder blade. She bellowed in pain and fell, and I could see the transformation back into a human begin. I hauled her onto my shoulder as soon as I could and ran back into the inn to get what I could. It wasn't much; armor, a bag of gold, and my bow and quiver. We stole away under the cover of darkness on a stolen horse bound for Whiterun. I couldn't deny it anymore, Serana was out of control, and as much as I hated to admit it, the Companions might be her only hope. That thought only made me ride faster.